Celebration of Doctor Martin Luther King Day

I had the great experience of hearing a speech by Dr. King at St. Louis U. back in 1965. He was totally impressive and I was sitting in the front row so I got the full impact of his magnificent baritone. The substance of his speech was also moving to me. The March to Selma was taking place and King filled me with youthful ardor.

I ended up afterward talking to a famous Jesuit priest, Fr. Daniel Berrigan, who told me the political questions of the country were going to be resolved in urban areas.

This was before Watts rioted, so I took his premonitions with more than a few grains of salt.

Many years later in the late '80s, every MLK holiday, I would fly to LA to have a symposium on oil and gas in the Arco Tower [now Library Tower]. I recall gazing on the snowy tops of the San Gabriel Mountains from the top of the tower when things got dull inside the conference room.

I also vividly remember calling my wife from LAX and she told me that the results of the amniocentesis had come back and that I was going to be the father of a little girl. Nice memory.